Tontine
by Green-san
Summary: Ace and Luffy spends a boring summer their uncle's place. Shakky, a bar-owner decides to entertain them with a story. A story about how a group of gangsters decides to play a game known as 'tontine' for their dreams' sake. But what is a 'tontine'...?


It was one of those hot, lazy summer days when you could do nothing but take a bath or lie in a hammock reading magazines. The only problem was, that there were no lakes nor oceans to bathe in, and all the magazines were either "not meant for children" or about cars. Really, the exciting prospect of spending a summer at Ace's uncle had turned out sour for the freckled boy and his baby brother Luffy.

Okay, maybe uncle wasn't the right word to describe the white haired man, since he had no blood-ties whatsoever to the boy. He only was a very good friend to his father, and often offered to take care of the boys when Garp had too much work to bury himself in. Pretty much like Luffy's uncle Shanks did. So these "brothers" had a big family, and at least the younger of them wasn't all that hesitant to include new cousins, brothers, aunts and grandparents.

And that hot summer day, the two boys were dangling their legs over the edge of the leather couch and sipped lemonade without any big interest. The previous day had been fun, since they had found a new friend in another boy named Hacchi, but he couldn't come often and was busy at home at the moment.

"Aaace~ I'm booored~"

"I'm too, Lu, so shut up." He swatted away the poking finger of the usually hyper-active boy, irritated at the constant demands for entertaining. "And besides, it's your turn to come up with something to do!"

"Aaaaw! Why?"

"Because I found the baby birds yesterday. So now it's your turn."

He watched how Luffy's face crunched up, first in a pout, and then in his "thinking-face" and the boy's cheeks and forehead turned slightly red as he tried to come up with something they could do. But if he had a hard time thinking usually, that heat made it impossible.

So after a couple of minutes, the two boys had headed over to the counter, climbed up on two of the high chairs and watched the woman who owned the bar dry glasses.

"Shakkyyyy~ We're boooored~" The youngest of them whined, and lied his chin down on the counter with a pout. Hoping that puppy-eyes would earn them some entertaining. Though, the tanned woman just chuckled and put down the glass she was drying, before taking her cigarette from her lips when she turned against the children.

"And you want me to entertain you? Boys, that will cost you all of you pocket money."

"Eeeeh? Why?"

"Because nothing is free here in the world." She chuckled again as she took another drag of her cigarette, but then she smiled against the disappointed faces before her. "But I can make an exception for you two. What do you want me to do?"

"Yay!" Luffy threw his arms up into the air at the promise of that exception, before frowning again as he heard the following question. "Uhm... Tell us a story!"

"Idiot, that's boring!" Irritated at his brother's childish reactions, Ace hit the back of the other's head, scolding him before Shakky took a hold of his hand.

"Portgas-chan, stop hitting Monkey-chan. And I'm pretty sure I can tell you a story that will interest even you. Have you boys ever heard of a 'tontine'?" She smiled at the children as they looked up at her with questioning eyes, before she leaned her left forearm on the counter before them. "A 'tontine' is a kind of game, you see, that a group of gangsters played in the 40's. I knew one of them very well, her café had been a rival of my bar."

"Lady, how old are you?" She ignored Luffy's question, and continued.

"The game is played like this; First, you must be a group of people who finds or collects a treasure. It can be money, valuable paintings or jewels, anything goes."

The freckled boy seemed to light up now at the mention of treasures, leaning a little closer to hear more. The boy with the strawhat, on the other hand, jumped on his chair and exclaimed; "Like meat?"

"No, not usually, Monkey-chan. When you are done with the treasure, you make a deal that whoever lives the longest will get all of it."

"That sounds kind of stupid." Ace frowned, now not that interested any more as he thought about having to wait until he was an old man before he could get his hands on the treasures.

"Yes, it is, but you can also just set a time limit. So, everyone who's alive after 30 years will get to share the treasure." She took another drag of smoke into her lungs, before blowing it out over the boys' heads. "But me and Ray knew some people who made a tontine and had their dreams come true..."

"Really?" Now, both of them looked at her with big eyes and interest, since they knew Shakky and her husband had lived very, very interesting lives. Whenever Rayleigh sat down with them to tell them about what he had experienced, they would find it even more interesting than Superman! So at that moment their eyes sparkled, big and shiny as they almost begged to hear the story.

She smiled at their expectant faces, chuckling a little before she started to speak again, telling the boys about a time when it wasn't the government or police that ruled, but gangsters. Criminals in fedoras and suits, who lived dangerously and had their city between their thumb and index finger. Of how they found a way to make their most secret and deepest dreams come true, just by a simple deal made between friends. A story that might not be fit for children, but an exciting one nonetheless...

~(+)~

Hello, fellow One Piece fans, this is my latest creation.

It is a dedication-fic, both to One Piece, the fandom in general and to some of the wonderful persons I got to know through it.

This chapter, chapter #1 is dedicated especially to the first person I really got to know through OP:  
>A Little Pirate At Heart<p>

She's the one who has taught me the most about story-telling, and I love her for every little piece of advice she has given me. I don't call her 'Sensei' for nothing, after all. But other than being really good at teaching, she's also awesome at writing! Please check out her stories and read her journals over at dA, she got many a wise/cool/fun word to share.

And just like this story, she was so much more than I saw at first glance...

I love you, Stini-sensei.


End file.
